Insect-scale robots with embodied intelligence: Challenges and future perspectives

Inspired by the agility, adaptability, and efficiency of insects, insect-scale robots are emerging as promising platforms for applications in environmental monitoring, search and rescue, precision agriculture, and beyond. However, a central challenge lies in achieving advanced embodied intelligence, where smart, adaptive behaviors arise from the seamless integration of a robot’s physical form, actuation, sensing, and control under severe size and power constraints. Recent breakthroughs in soft materials, bio-inspired actuation, energy harvesting, and lightweight AI have enabled significant progress, enhancing mobility and foundational autonomy. Furthermore, collective intelligence, achieved through robot swarms that mimic insect societies, offers a powerful extension of embodied intelligence for distributed sensing and cooperative task execution. This perspective paper examines the current state of insect-scale robots, identifies​ persistent challenges in miniaturization and autonomy, and proposes a roadmap​ for future advancement, focusing on hybrid material systems, energy-efficient cognition, and scalable swarm intelligence to transition from laboratory prototypes to practical, intelligent systems. • Proposes embodied intelligence as the key paradigm for achieving autonomy in insect-scale robots. • Highlights both physical and computational intelligence as critical strategies to enable adaptive behaviors in unknown environments. • Emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration​ to transition insect-scale robots from lab prototypes to real-world applications.